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Written Question
Falkland Islands: Official Visits
Thursday 21st March 2024

Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has made an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the Argentine Foreign Ministry's reaction to the the Foreign Secretary’s visit to the Falkland Islands in February 2024.

Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The UK position and ongoing support for the Falkland Islanders' right of self-determination remains unchanged. As the Foreign Secretary made clear on his recent visit to the Falkland Islands and in his meeting with Argentine Foreign Minister Mondino at the G20 in February, as long as the Islanders wish to remain part of the UK family, there can be no discussions on sovereignty. At their meeting on 17 January, the Foreign Secretary and President Milei discussed how to enhance UK-Argentina relations through greater cooperation on areas of mutual interest including trade, education, culture and enhancing people to people links. On the Falkland Islands, the Foreign Secretary and President Milei said they would agree to disagree, and do so politely.


Written Question
Military Attachés
Thursday 14th March 2024

Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 17 November 2023 to Question 1027 on Military Attachés, if he will publish an updated list of countries without a resident UK Defence Attache.

Answered by James Heappey

The Global Defence Network (GDN) utilises Resident and Non-Resident Defence Attachés (DA), who engage in Defence diplomacy in over three-quarters of the world’s nations. The table below has a list of countries covered on a Non-Residential Accreditations (NRA) basis, where a UK DA is not resident in country, but a DA elsewhere has the responsibility.

Country (NRA)

Location of DA

Angola

Mozambique - Maputo

Anguilla (British overseas territory)

Jamaica - Kingston

Antigua & Barbuda

Jamaica - Kingston

Armenia

Georgia – Tbilisi

Azerbaijan

Georgia – Tbilisi

Bahamas

Jamaica - Kingston

Barbados

Jamaica - Kingston

Belarus

Ukraine – Kyiv

Belize

Jamaica - Kingston

Benin

Accra - Ghana

Bermuda (British overseas territory)

USA – Washington DC

Botswana

Harare - Zimbabwe

British Virgin Islands (British overseas territory)

Jamaica - Kingston

Burkina Faso

Ghana - Accra

Burundi

Uganda – Kampala

Cambodia

(In process of transferring to) Vietnam - Hanoi

Cayman Islands (British overseas territory)

Jamaica – Kingston

Chad

Cameroon - Yaoundé

Cuba

Mexico – Mexico City

Djibouti

Ethiopia – Addis Ababa

Dominica

Jamaica - Kingston

Dominican Republic

Jamaica - Kingston

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Kampala - Uganda

Eritrea

Sana’a - Yemen (temporarily relocated to Riyadh)

Ecuador

Bogota - Colombia

Grenada

Jamaica - Kingston

Guinea

Sierra Leone – Freetown

Guyana

Jamaica - Kingston

Guatemala

Mexico – Mexico City

Guinea-Bissau

Senegal - Dakar

Haiti

Jamaica - Kingston

Hungary

Croatia - Zagreb

Iceland

Norway - Oslo

Ivory Coast

Ghana – Accra

Khartoum

Egypt - Cairo

Kosovo

Macedonia - Skopje

Kyrgyzstan

Kazakhstan – Astana

Laos

(in process of transferring to) Vietnam - Hanoi

Lesotho

South Africa - Pretoria

Liberia

Sierra Leone - Freetown

Luxembourg

Belgium - Brussels

Malawi

Zimbabwe – Harare

Mali

Senegal - Dakar

Malta

Rome - Italy

Mauritania

Morocco – Rabat

Monaco

France – Paris

Mongolia

Japan – Tokyo

Myanmar

Thailand - Bangkok

Montserrat (British overseas territory)

Jamaica - Kingston

Namibia

South Africa – Pretoria

Niger

Cameroon – Yaoundé

Papua New Guinea

Australia – Canberra

Paraguay

Argentina – Buenos Aires

Peru

Colombia - Bogota

Rwanda

Uganda – Kampala

Seychelles

Kenya - Nairobi

St Kitts & Nevis

Jamaica - Kingston

St Lucia

Jamaica - Kingston

St Vincent

Jamaica - Kingston

Slovakia

Czech Rep - Prague

Slovenia

Austria – Vienna

South Sudan

Addis Ababa – Ethiopia

Switzerland

Vienna - Austria

Syria

Lebanon - Beirut

Tajikistan

Kazakhstan – Astana

Tanzania

Kenya – Nairobi

The Gambia

Senegal - Dakar

Timor-Leste (East Timor)

Indonesia - Jakarta

Togo

Ghana – Accra

Tonga

Fiji – Suva

Trinidad & Tobago

Jamaica - Kingston

Turkmenistan

Uzbekistan - Tashkent

Turks & Caicos Islands (British overseas territory)

Jamaica - Kingston

Uruguay

Argentina - Buenos Aires

Vanuatu

Fiji – Suva

Venezuela

Bogota - Colombia

Zambia

Zimbabwe - Harare

Supported by MOD from in the UK

Cape Verdi Islands

Congo

Gabon

Panama

Puerto Rica


Written Question
Argentina: Foreign Relations
Friday 8th March 2024

Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he plans to meet the President of Argentina within the next six weeks.

Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The Foreign Secretary met President Milei at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, and spoke to Milei in November 2023. I [Minister Rutley] met Milei at his inauguration. The Foreign Secretary also met with Foreign Minister Mondino at the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Brazil in February. Statements from these meetings are available on gov.uk. Future ministerial meetings will be announced in the usual way.


Written Question
Falkland Islands: Sovereignty
Monday 4th March 2024

Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of recent comments by the President and government of Argentina regarding the future status of the Falkland Islands.

Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The UK is committed to upholding the Falkland Islanders' right of self-determination: only they can decide their own future. As the Foreign Secretary made clear on his recent visit to the Falkland Islands, as long as the Islanders wish to remain part of the UK family, there can be no discussions on sovereignty. The UK looks forward to developing a strong and constructive relationship with Argentina where we can agree to disagree politely on the issue of the Falkland Islands, but restart mutually beneficial co-operation on areas of shared interest.


Written Question
Non-native Species
Monday 12th February 2024

Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps his Department has taken to control the prevalence of (a) floating pennywort, (b) Himalayan balsam, (c) signal crayfish, (d) Japanese knotweed and (e) American mink.

Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government recognises the threats posed by invasive species and has a comprehensive Great Britain Non-native Species Strategy designed to co-ordinate action to tackle these threats.

Floating pennywort, Himalayan balsam and signal crayfish are listed as a ‘Species of Special Concern’ under the Invasive Alien Species (Enforcement and Permitting) Order 2019, which means that they cannot be brought into GB, kept, bred, transported, sold, used or exchanged, allowed to reproduce, grown or cultivated, or released into the environment. This legislation is aimed at preventing further introduction and spread of these species.

Japanese knotweed and American mink are listed on Schedule 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. This makes it an offence to allow American mink to escape into the wild, and to cause Japanese knotweed to grow in the wild.

Floating pennywort, Himalayan balsam and Japanese knotweed control.

In partnership with the Welsh Government and Natural England, Defra is funding specialist scientists at the Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI), an inter-governmental, not-for-profit organisation, to conduct biological control (biocontrol) research into the use of naturally occurring, living organisms to tackle floating pennywort, Himalayan balsam and Japanese knotweed. Biocontrol could provide a more cost- and time-effective way of managing these invasive plants as compared to manual removal.

Before any release of biocontrol agents, experts at CABI conduct extensive research and safety testing to ensure that native species will not be targeted, and then obtain formal approval to release them. This research is in its early stages, and releases at trial sites are ongoing for a weevil from Argentina, Listronotus elongatus, that targets floating pennywort; a psyllid from Japan, Aphalari itadori (a sap-sucking insect), that targets Japanese Knotweed; and a rust fungus that targets Himalayan balsam. Information about the research can be found on the CABI website and additional information can be found on the Japanese Knotweed Alliance website.

Defra is also part of a national partnership formed between government and non-government organisations that developed the Great Britain Floating Pennywort Strategy to manage this invasive plant.

Additionally, the Government run awareness raising campaigns such as ‘Be Plant Wise’ and Invasive Species Week. These campaigns provide species information and online training materials on biosecurity for industry and the general public. The Government has also developed guidance on how to prevent the spread of invasive non-native plants, and how to treat and dispose of them, which can be found on GOV.UK:

How to stop invasive non-native plants from spreading - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Signal crayfish

To support on-going management of large and damaging populations of signal crayfish in a feasible, effective and economically viable way Defra has put in place management measures for this widely spread species with containment and exclusion zones for signal crayfish. This approach prevents spread through restricting and controlling the commercial use of the species and preventing the live movement of the species entirely. This is aimed at preventing its continued spread into uninfected waterbodies in England.

American mink

Natural England are funding 5 partner-led projects (2023-25) which will be controlling mink to benefit water vole populations through the Species Recovery Grant Scheme. The total value of these projects is £479k and include projects to build on the work carried out in East Anglia to develop a mink free area stretching from Lincolnshire to the Thames

In the last financial year for which there is data, 2022/23, the Environment Agency spent £136,800 on 8 projects that controlled mink. The Environment Agency’s partners (including local authorities, Natural England, water companies and eNGO’s) contributed an extra £126,900 to those projects.

Local Action Group funding

Local Action Groups, with support from government, play an invaluable role in actively reducing and eradicating invasive non-native species.  Defra is currently funding twelve Local Action Groups (LAGs) across all regions in England to control invasive species through its Local Invasive Species Management Fund. The two-year fund totalling just over £300,000 is being used by LAGs mostly to remove invasive plants including floating pennywort, Himalayan balsam and Japanese knotweed. A small number of LAGs are conducting mink trapping and signal crayfish control. Most of these projects also involve training volunteers, awareness-raising and community engagement.


Written Question
Falkland Islands: Security
Wednesday 7th February 2024

Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the government of Argentina on the future security of the Falkland Islands.

Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

As fellow G20 members, we look forward to developing a strong and constructive relationship under the Presidency of Javier Milei. When the Minister for the Americas met President Milei at his inauguration, he made clear that the UK has no doubt about our sovereignty over the Falkland Islands and surrounding maritime areas. We are committed to defending proactively the Falkland Islanders' right of self-determination; this is not something we will ever be prepared to negotiate on.


Written Question
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Stonewall
Friday 2nd February 2024

Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, how much funding his Department has provided to Stonewall in each year since 2019.

Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)

The FCDO works closely with a range of civil society organisations to defend the human rights of LGBT+ people around the world. Since 2018, Stonewall has delivered a number of projects in support of UK foreign policy priorities. This has included supporting the UK and Argentina as one of three civil society co-chairs of the Equal Rights Coalition; supporting LGBT+ women globally; addressing violence and hate crime in the Western Balkans and Asia and evacuating vulnerable LGBT+ people from Afghanistan. The FCDO withdrew from Stonewall Diversity Champions programme in 2022 and have not funded any Stonewall programmes related to internal diversity and inclusion since, to ensure value for money to the taxpayer.

Financial Year

Programme Spend

2018/19

£102,969

2019/20

£114,944

2020/21

£152,067

2021/22

£585,436

2022/23

£173,034

2023/24 (as of 29/01/2024)

£0


Written Question
Argentina: Lithium
Wednesday 13th December 2023

Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has had recent discussions with his Argentinian counterpart on lithium supply to the UK.

Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Securing a sustainable supply of lithium globally is crucial to delivering Net Zero. Cooperation on lithium therefore forms an important part of our engagement with Argentina. During my visit to Argentina in February, I (Minister Rutley) discussed the UK's role as a key scientific, academic, and economic partner in lithium exploration in meetings with the then Argentine Vice-Foreign Minister, building on exchanges at senior official and expert level. We look forward to working with the Milei government on the many areas in which our countries stand to gain through cooperation, including the global supply of lithium.


Written Question
Caribbean and South America: Armed Forces
Tuesday 12th December 2023

Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Armed Forces personnel are deployed to (a) Guyana, (b) South America and (c) the Caribbean.

Answered by James Heappey

For force protection reasons we cannot provide precise numbers of deployed personnel in this case, including the British Army Training Support Unit Belize (BATSUB), and on the Falkland Islands and Ascension Island through British Forces South Atlantic Islands (BFSAI). Defence’s permanent presence across these areas is also provided by our resident Defence Attaché sections based in: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Jamaica. These teams also have non-residential responsibility for a range of other countries in the region with Guyana falling under our Caribbean team. Additionally, the Royal Navy have a persistent maritime presence in the South Atlantic and the Caribbean through two Offshore Patrol Vessels.


Written Question
Argentina: Diplomatic Relations
Friday 8th December 2023

Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of extracting (a) oil and (b) gas from around the Falkland Islands on diplomatic relations with Argentina.

Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The natural resources of the Falkland Islands belong to the people of the Falkland Islands and their right to develop their natural resources for their own economic benefit is an integral part of the Falkland Islanders' right of self-determination. We will continue to proactively defend the Falkland Islanders' rights in all international fora.